Saturday, March 28, 2015

For consider him [Jesus] that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in
your minds. Hebrews 12:3 KJV

Besides busy-ness getting in the way of my writing to you the last few weeks, the feeling of not being able to write anything worthy of this holy season prevented me. I have several incomplete devotions I started for this blog. But, that being said, I've watched the earth coming alive all around me with new birth. It’s the wonderful season of Easter when I am ever mindful of Jesus’ journey to the cross. I wanted to write a few words today to encourage you on your journey of faith.

This past month I studied the book of Job. I hope I will be sharing some meditations on that in the future. In some ways, Job foreshadows the life of Christ.

Job suffered the
misunderstanding, anger, and scorn of even his friends who accused him of
hypocrisy and sin. He suffered humiliation and blame. His wife advised him to
curse God and die. His children were destroyed and Job lost all his earthly comforts
and possessions. No man could help him. Besides that anguish, he suffered greatly
in his body as Satan piled on to prove his point that man only serves God for
the blessings. Job didn’t know the backstory, didn’t know that Satan and God
had made a battleground of his soul – yet still, he trusted in the integrity of
God.

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and
that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for
myself, and mine eyes shall behold…. Job 19:25-27a

Hope for Job was
totally based on God.

Job longed for a mediator
to plead his case before God. Job had no advocate: we do.

Praise God for the Cross of Jesus
Christ.

Wherefore He is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25

I took these today in my backyard -- if only I knew how. 3/28/2015

Thank you so much for visiting Write Moments with God. I
appreciate you. Sending prayers for a wonderful week.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Jesus raised the curiosity of the Samarian woman at the well. She had practical matters to attend to, but this Jewish man speaking to her raised questions in her mind. (See John 4:7-30)

…thou hast nothing to draw with…

She might as well have added, “as a matter of fact.” She made statements based on what she saw according to her natural reasoning, which was totally blind to God’s ways.

I wonder how often we put limitations on God. We presume to understand the situations and circumstances we find ourselves in better than God.

After all, we reason…

How will I ever overcome this weakness?This debt is too much. How can I pay it?How can I help this troubled relationship?

We put limitations on God by trying to figure it all out ourselves. With our preconceived notions, even religious prejudices, we deny the power of God.…the well is deep…

Don’t we insult God by our unbelief every time we worry and, in effect, question Him by our doubts and fears?

Instead we need to identify ourselves with Christ and confess like Paul did:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Galatians 2:20a RSV

We, who call Jesus our Lord and Savior, need to realize the resurrection power of God that lives in us. It’s not practical or common sense; it’s the Spirit of the living God. The life hid with Christ in God—our Source of living water. We need to identify so completely with His life, that we bring it into our daily living, walk and conversation. The power of the crucified Christ (in us as Spirit-filled believers) is meant to be brought to real, definite, practical experiences in our lives.He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. John 7:38

New Zealand waterfall taken by my daughter

Thank you so much for visiting. I appreciate you. Feel free to add your comments below.

I want to thank all of you on behalf of Jennifer Brommet and myself for visiting last week. Lou Ann Keiser will be receiving a copy of Jennifer’s book True Identify. Lou Ann, I know you’ll be blessed. Thank you again Jennifer for being my guest on Write Moments with God.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Today’s guest is Jennifer Brommet. I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer last
year in association with the Georgia Author of the Year Awards. I was blessed to spend time with her in
November at a TIM Retreat. She’s a
special lady that I’m pleased to introduce to you.

Jennifer is the founder and director of True Identity
Ministries, Inc.; a ministry passionate about helping people embrace, and be
set free, in their true identity in Christ. She has a background in design
(former Art Director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association),
administrative work, and ministry. She is a recent missionary in taking the
True Identity message and training to Kenya several times. She and her husband
Remco live in Cumming, GA and have two daughters. One pursuing a master’s
degree in London and the other a sophomore at Berry College.

Enjoy the interview.
Please leave a comment at the end of this post for an opportunity to win
a copy of Jennifer’s book, True Identity.

Jennifer, tell us a
little about yourself and your writing.

I have enjoyed journaling since I was a teen. I
also enjoyed writing short stories in high school and took writing classes in college. As a more introverted
personality type, I found comfort in putting thoughts and feelings on paper,
even if no one else ever read the words. I eventually pursued creative
expression more through the visual arts, and until recently, did not consider
myself a “writer.”

Would you say writing
is now more of a passion or a calling for you, or both?

It is only in the past few years that God has developed a
more intentional desire and passion for writing. I feel it was a calling to
write the True Identity book and blog.

What inspired you on
your writing journey?

I was inspired by the many books I read that greatly
encouraged me and my faith walk, as well as talking with others who were on a
similar writing journey. Also, through my quiet listening prayer times with God
as He began to stir a calling, passion, and confidence in me to write.

Is there one piece of
writing advice you wish you’d had from the outset?

Yes. Don’t feel like it has to be perfect the first go
around and don’t edit as you write. Just get the thoughts and words down on
paper and go back and edit later. Share from your heart. As a perfectionist,
the blank page was often daunting and kept me from getting started. I was
thankful I had the years of journals to refer back to, later realizing I had
really been writing most of my life!

Jennifer, what is the
most meaning truth you hope your readers glean from you writing?

That you are precious and loved dearly by God and He wants
you to see yourself as HE sees you, not as the world does. I share some of
my own struggles, for readers to be encouraged and helped through their own.
That they will find freedom, victory, and joy in their relationship with God. I
feel the calling God has placed on me and my writing is to help “set the
captives free.”

Is the Lord teaching
you as well through the discipline of writing?

The Lord has been teaching me to continue to come to Him and
pray and ask Him to give me His thoughts and words every time I write. I have
been on a grand adventure of “writing with God” these past few years. It has
encouraged my faith and trust in Him and I have seen Him mature me in my writing
ability and expression. HE has made me a “writer.”

Tell us about your
ministry, which I know firsthand is truly a blessing.

True Identity Ministries’ passion and mission is to help men
and women of all ages and backgrounds understand and embrace their True
Identity in Christ so they can be set free to be all God designed and desires
for them to be. We do this through retreats, conferences, seminars, written
materials, and online resources. God is expanding our ministry throughout the
U.S. and abroad.

Your story is deeply
personal and powerful. Tell our readers
about your book.

True Identity is the story of my journey from severe rejection
and depression, caused by a birth defect, to freedom and joy in embracing my
TRUE identity in Christ. My story is woven throughout the book as I share the
core True Identity message. There are
questions at the end of each chapter to help the reader or groups apply the
message to their own life. Photos and message diagrams included.

For many years others have encouraged me to write my story
in book form. I was hesitant for almost 20 years as I had a great fear of more
rejection if I told my story. Finally at age 48, the Lord enabled me to share
my story with groups of women, and out of that the True Identity message was
formed. As I shared the TI message with many women and men the next 8 years, I
was encouraged to write my story and the TI message in book form. When God told
me that “a book will be able to go places you will never be able to go,” and
the desire for this message to get to as many as possible, I overcame my fears
and began writing the book.

Here’s the blurb from the back cover:

Do you know WHO and WHOSE you really are? Are you searching
for a sense of purpose? Do you feel you are struggling to be yourself; fighting
what the media and the world says you should be?
Learn how God uniquely “knit you together.” Learn to break from the lies that
keep you in bondage. Be transformed to be all God designed and desires for you
to be. Be set free in your TRUE Identity in Christ!
Once you have embraced your TRUE identity, learn practical steps to help you
walk daily in your TRUE identity and fulfill your God-given purpose.
Jennifer shares her own difficult journey from severe rejection and depression
to freedom and joy in embracing her TRUE identity in Christ.

Jennifer, what is
your favorite Scripture?

Romans 8:28 – ALL things work together for the good for
those who love God and are called according to His purposes.

This was my life
verse that helped me through the darkest of days. It always offered hope that
there is a rainbow at the end of every storm. I have experienced this truth in
miraculous ways over and over again throughout my life. God is faithful!

Thank you so much
Jennifer for being my guest today.
And there’s one more thing I want to let everyone know. The next True Identity Women’s Retreat is
coming up April 17-19, 2015, at a beautiful retreat center just outside Clarkesville,
GA. I attended a retreat in November and it was truly life-changing. Please visit the website:www.TrueIdentityMinistries.org
for more information and to register.

READERS, all you need to do to be included in this week’s
drawing for a free book is leave a comment below and include your email address
so we can contact you if you win. Of
course, Jennifer and I would like for you to tell your friends about this blog
post. Thanks for visiting Write Moments with God. I appreciate you.

Monday, February 23, 2015

But the cares of the
world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and
choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. Mark 4:19 (RSV)

So, these are the things
that choke out God’s Word, rob us of contentment, and render us unfruitful. Cares
and delights and desires threaten to monopolize our thoughts, consume our attention,
and turn our minds and affections away from God. Such is the propensity of man
who lives in this fallen world.

But Jesus did not intend
for us to be taken out of the world, or shut ourselves away so we might never
be tempted. He wanted us to go about
doing good as He did. He wanted us to be His ambassadors. (See Matthew 28:19-20)

Now we have entered the
season of Lent when many Christians give up something as a way to honor God and
prepare their hearts to receive the risen Lord.

Lent is the forty day
period which precedes the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. It
reflects the forty days Jesus spent in the desert in prayer and fasting in
preparation for ministry. After those forty days, he began preaching in Galilee. (See Matthew 4:1-11)

May this season be
especially precious to us--a time of intentional personal reflection, committed
to prayer and quiet times with God.
While we think about Jesus and His life and ministry, we can focus our hearts
and minds on Him and away from those other
things that choke out God’s truth.

We will be refreshed and
strengthened and more able to manifest the kingdom of God hidden in our hearts.

The Spirit of the Lord
God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; ... to give them a garland instead of
ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of
a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of
the Lord, that he may be glorified. Isaiah 61:1a,3 (RSV)

Monday, February 9, 2015

In every thing
give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (KJV)

Years ago during
a difficult time in my life, I received a greeting card with the following
message:

I wish our lives were like VCRs.
We could rewind the good parts and fast forward the bad.

I smiled when I
read that message then and again the other day when I found it while cleaning
out a drawer.

And the fact is, we
are like that. We often wish that we could go back and replay the good
parts, the good years, the joyful flourishing seasons of our lives. Who
wouldn't want to fast forward the more trying times? To some extent, our
thoughts and memories can take us anywhere we want to go. But, in
reality, it's a good thing we don't have the ability to rewind and fast forward
our lives. We would totally miss out on what God has for us today.

Focusing on what
we no longer have rather than being grateful for our blessings today is a
source of much discontentment. When you reach a point in your life when
so many milestones and major life accomplishments and joys have already passed,
or when you go through the unease of life transitions, it's natural to long for
"the good old days" or for some special future event. It’s a strategy to take the focus off the
here and now.

The apostle Paul
wanted us to be happy in the nowand in whatever circumstances we find
ourselves.

There is great
gain in godliness with contentment. 1 Timothy 6:6 (RSV)

The older I get,
the more I appreciate the serenity prayer’s sweet summation of
contentment. I want to share it with
you. (I found this picture on Google images.)

Thank you all so much for visiting Write Moments with God. And thank you Carol Heilman for being my guest last week and giving away a copy of your novel, Agnes Hopper Shakes Up Sweetbriar. Carol and I appreciate all your kind words. Congratulations to Betsy Herman who is the winner of the drawing. Be looking for your copy in the mail.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Our guest today is Carol Heilman.
I enjoyed getting to know Carol last spring at the Carolina Christian Writers’
Conference. Carol is a coal miner's daughter who married her high school
sweetheart. She lives in the mountains of North Carolina with her husband of
fifty-plus years.

I began writing family stories,
especially about my dad’s Appalachian humor, for newspapers and magazines. I
read tons of books on writing, and enrolled in a few creative writing classes,
but the most important step for me was joining a critique group. These fellow
writers became my support and my cheerleaders who gently critiqued my work
until gradually my writing skills improved. I think a good critique group is
invaluable.

For you is writing a passion, a calling, or both?

Writing is an absolute passion.
Just ask my husband who sometimes rolls his eyes at my enthusiasm.

What’s the best thing about writing a book?

Getting lost in the story and in
the lives of the characters.

Is there one piece of writing advice you wish you’d
had from the beginning?

You will learn more from your
failures than your successes.

What is the most meaningful truth you hope your readers
will glean from your writing?

Listen to our elders. Really
listen. And become a voice for a senior who cannot speak for himself or
herself.

What do you think the Lord is teaching you through
your writing?

Patience and compassion.

What inspired you to write this novel?

The story began as a writing
assignment, a short story, inspired by my mother’s spunky spirit and my dad’s
humor. The main character, Agnes, has my mother’s spunky spirit.

Tell us about your new book.

Set in a small town, AgnesHopper Shakes Up Sweetbriar, is about an outspoken widow who sometimes
talks to her husband, Charlie, even though he died two years and three months
ago. Here’s a description from the back cover.

Summer's steamy
haze coats North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, but feisty Agnes Marie Hopper
discovers the heat isn't the only thing causing her blood to boil. After a
kitchen fire destroys her home, Agnes moves in with her daughter, Betty Jo.
Three months later they come to an understanding. Neither can tolerate living
with the other. So on a sultry August morning Betty Jo drives Agnes and her few
belongings to Sweetbriar Manor, a local retirement home and a former house of
ill repute.

With no
intention of staying, Agnes devises a scheme to sneak out of the Manor and find
another place to live. Before she can make her exit, she runs into her best
friend from high school, along with some other quirky characters. With a nose
for trouble, Agnes learns some of the residents are being robbed,
over-medicated, and denied basic cable and Internet access.

Armed with
nothing more than seventy-one years of common sense and a knack for pushing
people's buttons, Agnes sets out to expose the unscrupulous administrator,
protect her new friends, and restore Sweetbriar Manor's reputation as a
"rewarding and enriching lifestyle." But the real moment of truth
comes when Agnes is forced to choose between her feisty self-reliance and the
self-sacrifice that comes from caring for others.

Please share with us your favorite Scripture and
why it means so much to you?

“He reached down from on high and
took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters.” 2 Samuel 22:17 (NIV)

If the Lord Jesus had not rescued
me, I would have drowned. I was a young adult when I realized He loved me
unconditionally, and at that very moment my bitter and rebellious heart began
to heal and change. Now my heart is filled with His joy because I will always belong
to Him.

Thank you Carol for sharing with us today. Your novel sounds like a fun read.

Readers, thank you for visiting Write Moments with God. You can connect with Carol on the following sites:

I hope you will leave a comment (with your email address if I don't have it already) in order to be included in the random drawing for a paperback copy of Carol new book. Please share this post with your friends. The winner will be announced on the blog, Monday, February 9th. Blessings!

Thursday, January 29, 2015

While I read one
of the devotions in My Upmost for His
Highest by Oswald Chambers, a thought grabbed me. Here it is:

Ultimately, the battle we wage is with
ourselves.

I meditated on that and realized that for those of us who desire to know God and draw close to Him in relationship,
a battle rages in us with ourselves
because God has ordained that we shall be conformed to the image of Christ.

For whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinateto be conformed to
the image of his Son, that he might
be the firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8:29 (KJV)

This is not a
passive transformation. If it were passive, Jesus' sweat would not have been like great drops of blood as He prayed on the Mount of Olives. (See Luke 22:44)

We have to bring our thoughts into conformity to God's will for our lives, and our actions will follow. This is something I
must do; no one else can do it for me, and I can't blame anyone else when I fail
to do the thing I know I should.

We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5 (RSV)

Cooperation with
and dedication to God is required if I surrender my life to God’s will.

When we've gotten
passed obedience to God out of fear, the love of God constrains us to obey His
word. When we see beyond the commotion of community and family living, we
come back full circle to self -- me,
myself, and I.

Take these as examples:

If I stay up late
watching a marathon of TV dramas, rather than do a task the Lord has compelled me to do, who is to blame?

If I gossip about
an injustice, who made me speak the words?

If I point out an
unimportant flaw or fail to follow a special diet I need to
follow (my body is the temple of His spirit), the fault is on me.

If ever I do blame myself for my lack of spiritual
discipline ( i.e. shortcomings), some well-meaning soul, only a click away, will
excuse me with soothing words of Truth mixed with enough worldly wisdom
(sympathy and excuses) to lull me into passivity. So much of the content of Christian blogs and literature serves the purpose of encouragement and validation. Much of my writing is of that nature. And we need that from time to time. The coffee klatch aura is appealing. But can't it be a sort of spiritual kindergarten if we allow ourselves to stay there, babes in Christ?

I have a
responsibility to keep my thoughts and spirit in agreement with the Holy
Spirit. I have a responsibility to fulfill all that the Lord requires of me,
personally. I know God has called me to write a second devotional, yet I
keep laying it aside for other activities. I realize the fault is mine.

The inspiration
for my meditation was the September 9th devotion in My Utmost for His Highest
by Oswald Chambers. Here’s a brief quote:

"True
earnestness is found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that
is born of undisciplined human nature. It is inconceivable, but true
never the less, that saints are not bringing every project into captivity, but
are doing work for God at the instigation of their own human nature which has
not been spiritualized by determined discipline."

"...not
bringing every project into captivity..." that's the line that pricked my
heart.

For the love of Christ constrains
us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which
live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for
them, and rose again. 2 Corinthians 5:14,15 (KJV)

Picture courtesy of Google images

Thank you for visiting Write Moments with God. I hope my
reflections in some way are helpful to you in your walk with Christ.
Please share your thoughts if you think they can in anyway add clarity
and truth to the meditation. I like hearing from you.

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About Me

What defines me as a person--first and foremost my relationship with Christ. Then I have to say my children. I have six children, three sons and three daughters, whom I love with all my heart. I graduated college wanting to be a writer and a stay at home mom. After my divorce, I became a teacher and the writing became a once in a while thing. I have worked in education for the last 25 years. I've served as an English teacher, French teacher, counselor and librarian. Currently, I'm an adjunct English instructor at a community college. In 2008, I started writing again. Mostly I write about God in my everyday life, how to connect faith and figure out practical applications for Scripture in daily life. God's goodness gives me strength for each day. Let's encourage one another on this blog. And, by the way, I'm a Southerner, born in Georgia, and have lived in Martinez (suburb of Augusta, GA) for the last thirty years.